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Month: November 2017

When experiencing writer’s block it’s good to take a deep breath and close your eyes for a moment. Eckhart Tolle says that in this simple quiet space of stillness, creativity manifests spontaneously. So for a writer who may be experiencing a block, this is one suggestion. Rest and without effort see what begins to bubble up from one’s subconscious mind. From this point on another method is simply one of connecting and linking different thoughts and ideas together and grabbing on to the one you find most interesting. For example, I began this writing saying to close your eyes, we can link this thought with writing on meditation, contemplation, hypnosis, consciousness, the physiological processes that go on in our bodies and the neuroanatomical mechanisms that come into play for allowing any experience whatsoever to become a possibility. How does the eye work? Is their truly an objective reality to existence or is everything simply the play of consciousness? Questioning things and looking deeply into them is a great way to overcome writer’s block. Also one can look into the category of writing that one is actually interested in. Fiction, non-fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, iambic pentameter, dramas, comedies, biopic, memoirs, short stories, novels… The list goes on and on. Sometimes you can flip a coin, and see where that takes you. Heads I write about a place, tales, I write about an event in history. You can write modern things or past things. Future possibilities like exploration of mars or new technologies such as artificial intelligence and the internet age. If you are interested in history, you can write about the different civilizations that have come before us. The Babylonians, the hittites, the persians, the egyptians, the romans, the greeks, the macedonians, the carthaginians, the carolingians, the merovingians, the papal state, the renaissance, the age of exploration, the enlightenment, the industrial revolution. Let your consciousness flow freely and allow you pen or fingers to write or type away. Do not be bothered with boundaries unless you are focused very particularly on a specific writing style and certain rules. When your mind is exhausted of ideas, you can look back at the different topics you laid down on the screen or paper and begin to hone in on what may seem of most interest to you. Allow the topic to start out more gross level, just the rudimentary parts, to set the stage and scene, and then begin to progress to more subtle levels of character development, emotions, personality…refine your writing until the reader can taste and visualize what you are writing as if they have been transported completely to another place and time. Don’t worry so much about making mistakes, grammar, punctuation etc… you can always go back and edit your writing. The key is to let ideas flow freely, as Sigmund Freud called it, “free association”. Allow one thought to flow and connect with the next idea freely, neither blocking or suppressing. Watch your creative expressions as if clouds were floating by or a movie was being played, each scene different but some how connected, or somehow not connected at all. William James the father of modern psychology called mind the stream of consciousness, continually flowing endlessly. Within this river of mind more and more ideas will flow out. Sometimes you may find treasure exploding forth from your consciousness that was hitherto unbeknownst to the thinker. Also, play and have fun with writing. Do not allow it to become something that you dread and is difficult, don’t beat yourself up. What’s on the news? Trump? Than there you have your idea, write about politics. Global warming, there’s another debate. Republicans versus democrats, will it turn into civil war? The past is constantly flowing into the present, the present constantly flowing into the future, the three indelibly interconnected and unfolding. Each chapter unknown, some predictable, some a curve ball. Perhaps an alien invasion to write about? Or an natural disaster…or a man made disaster? Don’t get stuck in old writing habits and patterns. Allow your attention to wander to unchartered territories or some place you consider taboo. It is only through the light of wisdom and knowledge that the darkness of ignorance can be dispelled. If there are things you are afraid of or need to sort out, you can write about that. Often honesty is the best policy. The more open and truthful you are in your writing, the more cathartic is will be and also the more the reader will connect. Well I hope this brief article on possible ideas to defeat writer’s block helps any who read it. Also, you can try going someplace new and see if that triggers some new ideas. Novel experiences are always helpful. Afresh breeze may do the trick. Good luck.